Sharknado: The best worst movie of the summer

Last week, Sharknado exploded on twitter as you may have seen and brought the B-movie back where it belongs in American culture. The title says it all: a tornado spews sharks all over Los Angeles and with the help of some 90's B actors save the day. A Helicopter throws bombs into the tornado to kill the sharks and the climax is the best of all, Ian Ziering (whose name is FIN people) leaps into one of the sharks with a chainsaw and hacks his way out of the shark's stomach. Enough said indeed.

What's not to love about this movie? The terrible production, the hilarious one-liners, it's deliberately bad in a good way. I've always loved watching "good" bad B-movies. I even started a Bad Movie Club at one time here in Birmingham at a local pub. I think it's a great way to hang out socially with friends watching a terrible-good movie and making jokes along the way and with Sharknado, it's refreshing to see a movie that everyone can chime into on social media, even if they aren't watching it.

The SyFy's production company Asylum had their biggest hit yet with over 5,000 tweets a minute during the height of airing last Thursday. Even Mashable and The Washington Post chimed in on the internet frenzy.

So in honor of SyFy's repeat of Sharknado airing this Thursday night, I'm sharing a great themed party idea to invite friends over and share in the amazing experience that is SHARKNADO. If Twitter turns this into a weekly bad movie viewing party, the world would be a better place. I'm in.

sharknado fish tacos with cilantro lime crema

recipe by Christy Turnipseed, copyright 2013

ingredients

for cabbage slaw:

2 cups bag of mixed cabbage

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup red wine vinegar

3 tablespoons honey

handful fresh cilantro leaves, chopped

1 lime, juiced

2 tablespoons hot sauce

1/2 red onion, sliced

1 jalapeno, minced and seeded

salt and pepper to taste

for cilantro lime crema:

8 oz. sour cream

1/4 cup milk

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 limes, juiced

salt and pepper to taste

for fish:

4 firm white fish filets, such as mahi mahi or tilapia

1 cup rice flour (can be found at any asian market, locally at The Red Pearl)

1 lime, juiced

3 teaspoons ground cumin

2 teaspoons garlic, minced

1/4 canola oil

salt and pepper to taste

corn tortillas

1 avocado, halved, pitted and sliced

directions:

Cut the fish into 1 inch strips. Combine the fish with the lime juice, cumin, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste, in a medium bowl. This can be done a day ahead, covered and refrigerated.

Assemble the cabbage slaw. Combine oil, vinegar, honey, lime juice, hot sauce and whisk to combine. Salt to taste. Add cabbage, sliced onion and jalapeno. Toss until well dressed. If using within a couple of hours, let sit at room temperature. If making ahead, refrigerate until use.

To make the crema, combine sour cream, milk, cilantro, garlic, cumin, lime juice and whisk together. Refrigerate until ready to use. Season accordingly.

To cook and assemble:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees and wrap the tortillas in foil. When preheated, put the tortillas in the oven while cooking fish.

Add oil into a skillet and turn on medium-high heat. Take fish strips one by one out of the marinade and dredge into rice flour and shake off excess. Once oil is hot, add floured fish strips into pan and cook 2 minutes on each side. Work in batches until all strips are done. Set finished fish in oven while working on the other batches to keep warm.

Remove the fish and tortillas from the oven. Put a few fish strips in the center of a tortilla and top with a few avocado slices and finish with some of the cabbage and cilantro lime crema. Serve with some Landshark Lager and enjoy the movie!